George MacLeod’s book Muir is Tir. His original notes and drawings are in the Tasglann

Last Friday was meant to be my last day at Tasglann nan Eilean but luckily for me, the Scottish Council on Archives have extended my traineeship until December. We have had quite a busy summer which has involved many researchers coming to the archive, tours of the archives, filming, travelling, more training and more cataloguing.

On the 15th August, I received my certificate of completion for the year’s training and gave a presentation on what I have achieved over the last year. It was a great day spending time with my fellow trainees and their mentors and to hear of the great projects and achievements that each of us has completed.

My certificate and print of a Gosta Sandberg photo

While we were in Edinburgh , we visited the School of Scottish Studies to find out more about their collections especially those that are from or about the Western Isles. We spent a very pleasant morning delving into the notes, sounds and photos within the archive.

Tapes store in the School of Scottish Studies

On the same week we held a surgery for Comhairle staff and other public bodies regarding PRSA (that is the Public Records Scotland Act 2011) Each authority has been asked to prepare a plan on how they manage their records and Hugh Hagan and Robert Fotheringham from the National Records of Scotland told us more about how to do this and what guidance is available for authorities.

Seonaid talking to Comhairle staff about PRSA and permanent records held in the archive

We also had UHI Gaelic students come for a Gaelic visit of the Museum and Tasglann. I was able to show them some of our Gaelic collections including George MacLeod who created beautiful drawings for his book Muir is Tìr.